The Navy ‘blueberries’ – I don’t know what the name is, that’s what sailors call them – the great camouflage it gives is if you fall overboard,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus at a Thursday meeting with reporters. Mabus points to what has become a macabre joke among sailors, highlighting the dangers of a shipmate falling into the sea wearing a sea-colored uniform
No, that isn’t from the DuffelBlog, it’s real-life, and is a direct quote from a story in US News and World Report by Paul D. Shinkman regarding the Navy’s superfluous camouflage pattern.
PS Make sure you go read the article. It’s pretty good.
Read about the “Blueberry” camo somewhere yesterday. Some real funny stuff! BTW, Happy 238th Big A! Another day, another long time to wait for your REAL gift! If it makes ya feel better, my birthday last week was a downer too!
I always have called it Aquaflage. While I generally like them better than the old utilities, there is certainly an issue of WHY THE HELL DID WE NEED BLUE CAMO UNIFORMS??? Oh, and thanks for making sure they melt to our skin during fire. Was cotton unavailable? Rant off 😉
Ships don’t have fires? Do they? TOTAL sarcasim
Article also says the camo announcement is not likely to be made today
ok i have an idea why dont they go to grey uniforms that would make sense
They already did that.
I was deployed with some sailors who wore ACUs on patrol. No kidding.
heres a thought; why cant the navy wear FR gear in arcteryx wolf grey or sdu grey?
keep aor for the frogmen etc but everyone else wears grey.
or is this too simplistic?
I allready hear German WWII anthem playing in the background… but yes, grey would be a logic step, the Wolf is great.
Go back to Khakis, or just wear Navy Blue uniform..
Perfect camo idea for the Navy, ready?
UCP
LOL! Your sick.
Thinking the same thing. But, it would NEVER happen. The big worry from the entire Naval COC is a dirty looking sailor being seen somewhere. I think they put more time into not looking bad, that other important issues like…..not flashing up and melting in a fire.
Kryptek Typhon then to cover up all the stains?
There ya go!
When ACU first came out I didn’t think anyone could do any worse than the Army. Then the Air Force and Navy did their thing and proved me wrong. Every service should’ve just picked the USMC camo, and we could’ve saved a lot of money. Now we get to watch the four services fight over which camo everyone is going to wear.
It’s pretty pathetic isn’t it?
It is pathetic. It shows a lack of leadership in the officer corps, the executive and the legislative branch.
I think the rest of the branches would of picked marpat if they were allowed to.
There was a time when I think you were right. That time has passed.
People love to b***h and moan about the dangers of falling into the seas wearing the blueberries. You should be beaten with your own arm and made to wear neon yellow jumpsuits to meet the visibility requirements you so loudly desire…
They’re for hiding grime and grease, which you’re far more likely to see than the stern of a grey hull as it motors away from you.
Of course you look ridiculous in them, but for other reasons, get it right. Be productive and use all that anger and noise get the committee fired that handles US Forces uniforms, and ALL THOSE TAX DOLLARS!
Bring back the whites.
Seems like the Army’s UCP would be perfect on those gray ships.
Nice quotes there in the USN&WR article Eric.
That TIME article that they linked to was really good too: http://nation.time.com/2013/05/13/uniform-insanity/
But back to the Navy again – I see they’re now adding an FR coverall to the sailors sea bag, because the “blueberries” apparently go up like a torch on the 4th of July from the slightest exposure to flame!
You couldn’t make this shit up….
So the Navy is getting ready to run it’s own uniform fiasco again. They are thinking of switching back to solid Navy blue again. Fine. They already have a wear program for chosing a better utility jacket in what, solid navy blue. The Coast Guard already has a set. They have to have ball caps. 100%. They have already stated that they will get 2 pairs of fire retardant coveralls to the shipboard sailors. So, where does that take them? There will be a shipboard only uniform for under way (coveralls with ball cap), in port working uniform (blue ACUs/BDUs with a ball cap or 8 point cover), and then the transiting to/from work (blue ACUs/BDUs with a ball cap or 8 point cover or not allowed, so the service uniform because again, they are afraid of dirty looking sailors). And, this will probably even vary and let the ship COs determine if they want their sailors to wear the coveralls or the ACUs/BDUs under way. A lot of people give the Blueberries a bad rap. They were utilizing a consistent look for the military by actually being a military cut uniform, and the “camo” was there for the same service wide pixel camo and to cover up the daily dirt, grime, and grey paint. It also did away with the requirement to have the coveralls as an additional uniform while underway (did not happen though). So, in my eyes, it performs it’s duties. It may look terrible, but it does save money. Sailors paint. Gray. Every where, every day. And, just t be a sailor, it will not be marked as wet paint, and will be strategically placed to ensure uniform contact. So, there goes your new $50 top. Gray would work as actual camo against the backdrop of the ship when topside manning the guns and would be seen better if fallen overboard. The Aussies used to have gray uniforms or coveralls with the reflective armbands. I always thought that was awesome. Nothing like being and to be seen when the crap hit the fan in a dark smoky ship. Just make them have flaps to cover them when needed. But, it will never be. They will get dirty in 2 seconds of daily work and be useless. Then you would need a few pair of gray or solid blue working sets, plus a few sets of good looking ones for quarters and going to the exchange. Etc, etc.
How about the Navy going to the common camo like everyone else (hopefully)? Of course there will massive blowback about not doing ground combat on a ship, but why not? Avoid the duplication, avoid new studies and costs for fire retardant application, etc.
I see SSD was quoted. SSD FTW.
Everything that Steve McQueen wore in “The Sand Pebbles”. Be proud of your Naval heritage.
Ill say this right now, as a active duty member of the navy I haven’t been around long enough to have had dungarees, but I did have utilities, and they sucked. I’ve tried on the old dungarees and no thank you. The blue “auqaflague” I could careless about, just fix the fact that they melt to me, make a light weigh for places like hawaii and the only thing that would be better would be if we went to just coveralls and that’s it. That could be the bubblehead in me talking or that I wear Type IIIs at my current command and love them, took everything I loved about Multicam ACUs and fixed most of what I didn’t like.